JP7231692B2 - Persistent indication of acknowledgment resource - Google Patents

Description

Disclosed herein are techniques for transmitting and receiving control information associated with a wireless link. Specifically, a mechanism is proposed for indicating radio resources for acknowledgment feedback that may allow the communication partner to adapt the representation of the acknowledgment feedback.

Wireless networks standardized by 3GPP LTE (Third Generation Partnership Long Term Evolution) implement Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) or Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) which also includes forward error correction. In this type of network, the transmitting device is required to send acknowledgment feedback to the receiving device indicating the decoding result of the transport block or codeword (ACK/NACK or ACK/NAK feedback). ACKs/NACKs associated with downlink (DL) transmissions are sent on the uplink (UL). That feedback is used to trigger fast retransmissions. The signaling aspects of HARQ in LTE are specified, inter alia, in clause 10 of 3GPP Technical Specification 36.213.

The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), which includes the acknowledgment feedback mechanism in 3GPP NR (New Radio), is currently under consideration.

NR is agreed to support explicit resource allocation. It is agreed that downlink control information (DCI) messages can indicate in which slots HARQ feedback should be reported. In addition to its timing, the UE also needs to know the exact PUCCH resources. It is agreed to support at least PUCCH resources configured by higher layers, and the DCI indicates which of the configured resources to use. FIG. 1A is a simplified time-frequency diagram showing a scheduled DL transmission in slot n, with an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) contained in a DCI message indicating HARQ on resource RI. requesting feedback. DCI further includes an indication denoted "T=1", which requests that HARQ feedback be sent in slot n+1. It is recalled that an NR slot corresponds to 7 or 14 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols with subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and a slot with 7 OFDM symbols occupies 0.5 ms. Regarding NR terminology, reference is made to 3GPP TR38.802 v14.0.0 and later versions.

Another scheduling example is shown in FIG. 1B, where the UE is scheduled in subsequent slots and multiple DL transmissions are scheduled. Due to the lack of PUCCH opportunities (eg, no UL opportunities), HARQ feedback for all three transmissions shown is requested in slot n+3. More precisely, the ACK/NACK timing indicator included in the DCI message points to slot n+3 for all transmissions. Instances of ARIs included in DCI point to different PUCCH resources to avoid collisions.

Currently, NR is expected to support at least the following PUCCH formats:
Short PUCCH format 1: 1 symbol, payload 1-2 bits Short PUCCH format 2: 1 symbol, greater than 2 bits Short PUCCH format 3: 2 symbols, 1-2 bits Short PUCCH format 4: 2 symbols, 2 Long PUCCH format 1: 4 to 14 symbols, 1 to 2 bits Long PUCCH format 2: 4 to 14 symbols, 2 to 10 or several tens of bits Long PUCCH format 3: 4 to 14 symbols, 10 bits or more Since these formats, which are large or dozens of bits, occupy different amounts of UL resources, the ARI in NR may need to indicate a wide range of values. Rather than accepting the relatively large signaling overhead when implemented with the simple approach represented by this, techniques are proposed here that seek to simplify the ARI and limit its contribution to the overall overhead. .

The present invention proposes devices, methods, computer programs and computer program products that address the needs and problems outlined in the preceding sections.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method of transmitting control information to a communication network, said method being implemented in user equipment,
- configured with at least two sets of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information to said communication network;
- receiving from a base station of the communication network an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving DL transmissions;
- receiving an ARI indicating one of said set of configured UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with said DL transmission;
- transmitting the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and the control information is transmitted in one of the UL resource sets corresponding to the operating state of the communication network. The base station may be included in a communication system further comprising a host computer configured to transmit user data to the user equipment via the base station.

In a second aspect, there is provided a UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry comprising:
- enabling the UE to be configured with at least two sets of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network;
- receiving, from a base station of said communication network, an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving DL transmissions;
- receiving an ARI indicating one of said set of configured UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with said DL transmission;
- configured to transmit the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and the control information is transmitted in one of the UL resource sets corresponding to the operating state of the communication network. The base station may be included in a communication system further comprising a host computer configured to transmit user data to the user equipment via the base station.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method of receiving control information at a base station of a communication network, the method comprising:
- obtaining configurations of at least two sets of UL resources to be used for receiving control information from user equipment within the coverage of said communication network;
- Allocating radio resources to the user equipment to be used for transmitting DL transmissions;
- Sending to the user equipment an ARI indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission;
- receiving the control information from the user equipment on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and the control information is received on one of the UL resource sets corresponding to the operating state of the communication network. The base station may be included in a communication system further comprising a host computer configured to transmit user data to the user equipment via the base station.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a base station for operation in a communication network, comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry, said processing circuitry comprising:
- obtaining configurations of at least two sets of UL resources to be used for receiving control information from user equipment within the coverage of said communication network;
- Allocating radio resources to the user equipment to be used for transmitting DL transmissions;
- send an ARI to the user equipment indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission;
- configured to receive said control information from said user equipment on at least a subset of said set of UL resources indicated;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and the control information is received on one of the UL resource sets corresponding to the operating state of the communication network. The base station may be included in a communication system further comprising a host computer configured to transmit user data to the user equipment via the base station.

The dependent claims define exemplary embodiments. It is noted that the invention relates to any combination of features, even if claimed in mutually different claims.

Exemplary embodiments will be described below with reference to the following accompanying drawings:
Discussed above is a time-frequency diagram depicting DL control channel resources, DL data resources and UL control channel resources. Discussed above is a time-frequency diagram depicting DL control channel resources, DL data resources and UL control channel resources. 1 schematically depicts a telecommunications network, optionally connected to host computers via intermediate networks; 1 is a schematic block diagram of a host computer communicating with user equipment via a base station over a partially wireless connection; FIG. 4 is a flow chart depicting a method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, base stations and user equipment; 4 is a flow chart depicting a method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, base stations and user equipment; 4 is a flowchart depicting a method implemented in user equipment; 4 is a flow chart depicting a method implemented in a base station;

In the context of this disclosure, the term "communications network" or "network" for short, inter alia, refers to a set of nodes or entities, associated transport links and services for operating, e.g., telephony services or packet transport services. can represent the associated management entity required for Depending on the service, different types of nodes or entities may be used to implement the service. A communication network provides services to its subscribers that are owned by, or operated for and implemented by, a network operator. Typical examples of communication networks are radio access networks such as WLAN/Wi-Fi and cellular networks like 2G/GSM, 3G/UMTS, 4G/LTE and NR.

In the context of this disclosure, the terms "user equipment (UE)" and "wireless communication device" each refer to a device used, for example, by a person for his or her personal communications. It may be a telephone type device such as a telephone, a SIP phone, a cellular phone, a mobile station or a cordless phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant) type device such as a laptop, notebook or notepad equipped with a wireless data connection, or , can be a table computer. A UE may be associated with non-humans such as animals, plants, or possibly machines, in which case it may be configured for machine-type communication, machine-to-machine communication, device-to-device communication, or sidelinks. . A UE may comprise a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) containing a unique identifier, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and/or a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI), associated with a subscriber using the UE. The presence of the SIM in the UE allows customization of the UE specific to the subscriber's subscription.

In the context of this disclosure, the terms "base station" and "wireless access node" each refer to a radio access network, e.g., used as an interface between terrestrial-based transport links and radio-based transport links. A node whose radio-based transport link interfaces directly to a UE. In various generations of cellular communication, the term base station is also referred to as BTS, NodeB, eNodeB or gNB. In the WLAN/Wi-Fi® architecture, a base station is called an access point (AP).

The present invention may be used at any node in the network that implements transmitter or receiver functionality. One typical implementation is in the UE and is associated with the processing of transport blocks on the downlink with ACK/NACK feedback sent on the uplink.

Referring to FIG. 2, according to one embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 210, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which includes an access network 211, such as a radio access network, and a core network 214. . The access network 211 includes multiple base stations 212a, 212b, 212c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNGs, or other types of wireless access points, each of which defines a corresponding coverage area 213a, 213b, 213c. Each base station 212 a , 212 b , 212 c is connectable to core network 214 over wired or wireless connection 215 . A first user equipment (UE) 291 located in the coverage area 213c is configured to be wirelessly connected to or paged by the corresponding base station 212c. A second UE 292 within the coverage area 213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 212a. Although multiple UEs 291, 292 are depicted in this example, the disclosed embodiments are applicable to situations where there is a single UE within the coverage area or a single UE is connected to the corresponding base station. Equally applicable to the situation.

Optionally, the telecommunications network 210 is itself connected to a host computer 230, which may be embodied in stand-alone server hardware and/or software, cloud-implemented servers, distributed servers. Alternatively, it may be embodied as a processing resource within a server farm. Host computer 230 may be owned or controlled by a service provider, or may be operated by or for a service provider. Connections 221 , 222 between telecommunications network 210 and host computer 230 may extend directly from core network 214 to host computer 230 or optionally through intermediate network 220 . Intermediate network 220 may be one or a combination of public, private or hosted networks, Intermediate network 220 may be a backbone network, if any, or the Internet, in particular , intermediate network 220 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 2 generally allows connectivity between one of the connected UEs 291 , 292 and the host computer 230 . That connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 250 . Host computer 230 and connected UEs 291, 292 transmit data and /or configured to communicate signaling. The OTT connection 250 may be transparent in the sense that participating communication devices en route to the OTT connection 250 are unaware of the routing of communications upstream and downstream. For example, base station 212 may not or need to be informed of the past routing of incoming downstream communications with data to be transferred (eg, handed over) originating from host computer 230 to connected UE 291 . and not. Similarly, base station 212 need not be aware of the future routing of outgoing upstream communications originating from UE 291 to host computer 230 .

An exemplary implementation according to one embodiment of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the previous paragraph will now be described with reference to FIG. In communication system 300 , host computer 310 comprises hardware 315 including communication interface 316 configured to set up and maintain wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of communication system 300 . Host computer 310 further comprises processing circuitry 318 which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. Specifically, processing circuitry 318 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. may contain. Host computer 310 further comprises software 311 stored in or accessible by host computer 310 and executable by processing circuitry 318 . Software 311 includes host application 312 . Host application 312 may be operable to provide services to remote users such as UE 330 and UE 330 connecting via OTT connection 350 terminating at host computer 310 . While providing services to remote users, host application 312 may provide user data that is transmitted using OTT connection 350 .

Communication system 300 further includes a base station 320 provided in a telecommunications system, which comprises hardware 325 that enables it to communicate with host computer 310 and UE 330 . Hardware 325 includes communication interface 326 for setting up and maintaining wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of communication system 300, as well as the coverage area (shown in FIG. 3) served by base station 320. a wireless interface 327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 370 with a UE 330 located within the UE 330. Communication interface 326 may be configured to facilitate connection 360 to host computer 310 . Connection 360 may be direct, or through a telecommunications system core network (not shown in FIG. 3) and/or one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunications system. good too. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 325 of the base station 320 comprises one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof adapted to execute instructions. (not shown). Base station 320 further has software 321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 300 further includes UE 330 already mentioned. The hardware 335 may include a radio interface 337 configured to set up and maintain a radio connection 370 with a base station serving the coverage area in which the UE 330 is currently located. Hardware 335 of UE 330 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions processing. Further includes circuitry 338 . UE 330 further comprises software 331 stored within or accessible by UE 330 and executable by processing circuitry 338 . Software 331 may optionally include client application 332 . Client application 332 may be operable to provide services to human or non-human users via UE 330 in support of host computer 310 . At host computer 310 , an executing host application 312 may communicate with executing client application 332 via UE 330 and OTT connection 350 terminating at host computer 310 . During servicing a user, client application 332 may receive request data from host application 312 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 350 may transport both request data and user data. Client application 332 may interact with the user to generate user data that it provides.

3 are the same as the host computer 230, one of the base stations 212a, 212b, 212c and one of the UEs 291, 292, respectively, shown in FIG. There may be. In other words, the internal workings of these entities may be as shown in FIG. 3, and independently of that, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG.

3 to illustrate communication between host computer 310 and user equipment 330 via base station 320 without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages through those devices. , OTT connections 350 are depicted abstractly. It may be the network infrastructure that determines the routing, and the network infrastructure may be configured to hide the routing from the service provider operating the UE 330 or the host computer 310, or both. While the OTT connection 350 is active, the network infrastructure may also make decisions to dynamically change routing (eg, based on load balancing considerations or network reconfiguration).

As previously outlined, base station 320 dynamically schedules downlink transmissions to UE 330 . Scheduling may be based on channel condition reports and quality information reports received from UE 330 on the PUCCH or physical shared uplink channel, or may be based on other factors. The channel condition report and quality information report indicate the instantaneous channel conditions as seen by the receiver. In each time interval (e.g., LTE subframe or NR slot), the base station 320 identifies the UEs scheduled to receive data in the current time interval and resources on which data is transmitted to the scheduled UEs. Send a DCI to DCI is typically sent on the physical downlink control channel in the early part of the time interval.

ARQ or HARQ is used to mitigate errors that occur during transmission of data on the DL. Once the base station 320 indicates that the UE 330 has been scheduled to receive a DL transmission, the UE 330 attempts to decode the transmission and sends an acknowledgment message to the base station on the physical uplink control or shared channel. Send. The acknowledgment message informs the base station whether the data packet was correctly received by UE 330 . The acknowledgment message can be either a positive value acknowledgment (ACK) indicating successful decoding or a negative value acknowledgment (NACK) indicating decoding failure. Based on the acknowledgment message received from UE 330, base station 320 determines whether to send new data (receive ACK) or resend previous data (receive NACK). The introduction of the Acknowledgment Resource Indicator (ARI) in the context of carrier aggregation in LTE allows multiple UEs to share a pool of semi-statically reserved UL resources for this purpose without collisions, allowing acknowledgment Allowed explicit allocation of resources for response messages. The resource sharing was efficient as it reduced the average number of UEs simultaneously allocated resources on multiple DL carriers.

If UE 330 has data to send but no valid uplink grant, it may send a scheduling request (SR) to base station 320 on PUCCH to initiate UL transmission. Base station 320 allocates uplink resources in response to the scheduling request and sends scheduling grants to UE 330 on the physical DL control channel. If data is received or no data arrives on the assigned uplink resource, the base station 320 may send ACK/NACK signaling to the UE 330 on the DL channel to indicate whether the data was received correctly. . As an alternative to ACK/NACK signaling, base station 320 may schedule UE 330 to retransmit the same UL data.

Returning to DL transmission, NR can support multiple PUCCH formats with different UL resource requirements, as mentioned. In this context, a resource may be referenced by a single resource index, but may also be defined by a combination of one or more of time, frequency, phase rotation, orthogonal cover code (OCC). Additionally or alternatively, a cyclic shift, starting symbol, time length (in number of symbols) and/or bandwidth (in number of physical resource blocks) may be configured for the resources. A selection by UE 330 of one of the indicated UL resources may represent an acknowledgment feedback value, such as a positive or negative acknowledgment. Optionally, the acknowledgment feedback value may be combined with targeting specific parts of the DL transmission (this may allow different values of acknowledgment to be sent for different parts of the DL transmission). ), and/or with additional information such as scheduling requirements, and varying degrees of bundling and multiplexing may be applied. As a result of these and similar factors that were not present in previous communication systems where acknowledgment feedback was of fixed length, the number of separately assignable UL resources can vary between different operating conditions. Yes, creating a significant gap between the minimum and maximum number of ARI values required. Accordingly, embodiments herein may require differentiation between different operating conditions, or groups of operating conditions where the acknowledgment feedback length is assumed to be constant for each group.

A simple approach to accommodate the full range of ARI values would be to allow ARI more resources in the DCI. However, it would add some signaling overhead corresponding to the worst case - the most comprehensive set of acknowledgment feedback values - and in many situations it would not be necessary. The exemplary embodiments herein instead propose a persistent ARI interpreted from the perspective of the current operating state of the communication network.

Rather, the method implemented in UE 330 is depicted in FIG. 6, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In a first step 610 the UE 330 is configured with at least two sets of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network 300 . At the network level, the configuration may have the effect that the set of UL resources is reserved for transmitting control information. The above set of UL resources may be understood as a pool of resources that can be shared according to the ARI among the UEs currently operating in the system.

In a second step 620, the UE 330 receives from the base station 320 an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving DL transmissions.

In a third step 630, the UE 330 receives an ARI indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with DL transmissions. The ARI or the configured set of UL resources may optionally define explicit time positions of UL resources; alternatively, the time positions of UL resources may be a predefined number in time. , relative to the time position of the DL resource to be used for the DL transmission, such as one slot later.

In a fourth step 640, the UE 330 transmits control information associated with DL transmissions to the base station 320 using at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources. Rather, the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, of which the UE 330 transmits on a UL resource set corresponding to the operating conditions of the communication network.

Therefore, there is no need to introduce separate ARI values for the two modes of operation, even though the two modes of operation differ in terms of requirements for UL resources for control information. Instead, the meaning of the signaled ARI value will depend on the mode of operation of communication network 300 . If the UE 330 is aware of the current mode of operation, this suggests that the amount of signaling overhead can be reduced. For example, the UE 330 may change the operating mode by receiving semi-static or dynamic signaling separate from the ARI, by checking the value of an internal variable reflecting a previous configuration message, or implicitly. The current mode of operation can be appreciated by considering the operational aspects of the network 300 shown. Alternatively, the UE 330 may implicitly determine which resource the ARI value refers to based on the mode of operation. This means that even though a given ARI value may be reinterpreted due to changes in operating modes, two or more different ARI values are required if two or more UEs are allocated distinct resources at the same time. means

A comparison between the reference implementation, in which the ARI values are unique across modes of operation, and the implementation according to the exemplary embodiment illustrates possible overhead reduction. In Tables 1 and 2 below, the ARI values are specified, where Rn (n=0,...,16) represents the resource index, while M1 and M2 represent the two modes of operation of the communication system. .

Table 1 illustrates an implementation in which the interpretation of ARI values by the UE is independent of the mode of operation of communication system 300. In practice, the ARI values "000", "001", "010" and "011" are not expected in operation mode M2. Similarly, ARI values "100", "101", "110" and "111" would normally not be used in operation mode M1.

Since a reduced set of control information values is defined for operation mode M2, each ARI value used in that operation mode indicates a smaller set of UL resources. Furthermore, UL resource sets {R0, R1, R2, R3} and {R0, R1} cannot be selected in the same operation mode even by different UEs. In this way, a common ARI value, here fixed to '00', can be used for these UL resource sets. In this example, the exemplary embodiment reduces the required ARI payload from 3 bits to 2 bits.

Stated another way, the signaled ARI value "00" has a basic meaning (e.g. {R0, R1, R2, R3}) in which if the communication system is in a particular mode of operation: One or more additional meanings (eg, {R0, R1}) are superimposed.

A method implemented at base station 320 is depicted in FIG. 7 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

In a first step 710, the base station 320 obtains configurations of at least two sets of UL resources to be used for receiving control information from user equipments within the coverage of the communication network. Usually, the above configuration is not for a specific UE, but for all UEs operating in some part of the network.

In a second step 720 the base station 320 allocates radio resources to be used for transmitting DL transmissions to the UE 330 . In implementation, the DL assignments are typically specific for one UE.

In a third step 730, the base station 320 transmits the ARI to the user equipment. The ARI may indicate one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with DL transmissions. As mentioned for step 630 (FIG. 6), the UL resource may have an implicit time position (such as a fixed interval) or an explicit time position (such as a signaled slot or symbol index). have.

In a fourth step 740, the base station 320 receives control information from the UE 330 using at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources. In this exemplary embodiment, the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the control information being one of the UL resource sets corresponding to the operational state of the communication network. received at. As explained above with reference to FIG. 7, this has advantages at least from the point of view of limiting signaling overhead.

Some further developments of the exemplary embodiments depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7 are discussed below. It is emphasized that the features discussed in the context of these further developments are also beneficial in their own right and may be practiced autonomously and independently of the underlying embodiment with which they are associated.

UE 330 may receive and attempt to decode control information for the DL transmission, which is determined based on successful decoding. Alternatively or additionally, the control information may include requests for UL transmission resources and/or results of measurements performed by UE 330 . Specifically, control information transmitted by UE 330 and received by base station 320 may include acknowledgment information associated with DL transmissions, such as ARQ or HARQ feedback.

In an exemplary embodiment, the selectable sets of UL resources within the indicated set of UL resources differ with respect to their cardinality. Specifically, the two selectable sets of UL resources may include different numbers of UL resources. The number of UL resources available for the control information may affect the granularity of the information conveyed. For example, in a mode of operation where each UL resource set contains relatively few UL resources, HARQ feedback may be transmitted at the level of transport blocks containing multiple codewords, while the UL resources per UL resource set are relatively small. In a heavy mode of operation, HARQ feedback may be provided at the level of each codeword that makes up a transport block. In the latter case, the requested retransmissions may be limited to codewords that fail decoding. This property may also apply to selectable sets of UL resources within a set of UL resources other than the indicated set.

In an exemplary embodiment, the indicated set of UL resources comprises a first UL resource set, the first UL resource set comprising UL resources in addition to the UL resources of the second UL resource set. include. Alternatively or additionally, the second UL resource set within the indicated set of UL resources may be a subset of the first UL resource set. Specifically, the second UL resource set may be a proper subset of the first UL resource set. The UL resource set shown in Table 2 has these properties. Here, the set of UL resource sets corresponds to the rows of the table, and the UL resource sets within one set correspond to different columns of the row. In the set indicated by the ARI value "10", the first UL resource set in the sense of this paragraph may be {R8, R9, R10, R11} corresponding to operation mode M1, the second UL resource The set may be {R8, R9} corresponding to operation mode M2.

In an exemplary embodiment, the operational states represent acknowledged feedback mode or HARQ feedback mode. The acknowledgment feedback mode may be a common setting for the communication network 300 and multiple user equipments 330 within its coverage. The acknowledgment feedback mode may be associated with an agreement or common understanding between user equipment 330 and base station 320 as to what acknowledgment messages may be communicated. The agreement may be in the form of a table that relates signaled values (as expressed by codes, sequences or UL resources) to acknowledgments or meaning in the context of HARQ. Exemplary implications may be: acknowledgments (ACK or NACK) with positive or negative values, limiting acknowledgments to specific parts of the DL transmission, and/or Further information such as scheduling requests. The two acknowledgment modes may differ with regard to the size of such tables, or, to put it more generally, with respect to the granularity of the acknowledgment signaling. Acknowledgment feedback modes with relatively large (eg, relatively coarse) granularity of signaling, and thus less meaningful available, may be referred to as compressed acknowledgment feedback modes. Given the first and second UL resource sets discussed and illustrated in the previous paragraph, the second UL resource set (with smaller cardinality) may be employed in the compressed acknowledgment feedback mode, while the (more The first UL resource set (with large cardinality) may be employed in uncompressed mode, commonly referred to as acknowledgment feedback mode.

In this context, whether the currently applicable acknowledgment feedback mode is normal or compressed may or may not be explicitly signaled or otherwise accessible to UE 330 and base station 320. It may be derived from parameters. Responsibility for initiating transitions between acknowledgment feedback modes may reside with UE 330 , base station 320 , or other nodes of communication network 300 .

Additionally, communication network 300 may be capable of operating in more than two acknowledgment feedback modes. At least some of the modes may differ with respect to the cardinality or size of the corresponding UL resource sets within the set of UL resources. The acknowledgment feedback modes may be given a sequential order so that transitions may be signaled in stages, eg by stepping "up" or "down" relative to the current mode.

In an exemplary embodiment, the UL resource sets are configured such that each set includes at least two selectable UL resource sets. A selectable UL resource set may correspond to each mode of operation. Such a configuration is shown in Table 2 above. Configuring the set of UL resources in this manner may have the advantageous effect of allowing transitions between modes of operation regardless of the set dictated by the ARI. In other words, the entity responsible for initiating transitions between modes of operation need not consider whether the set of UL resources is indicated by an ARI or may be expected to be indicated by an ARI in the near future.

In an exemplary embodiment, the UL resource set configuration is communicated to the UE 330 via semi-static signaling, such as radio resource control (RRC) signaling. If base station 320 is responsible for configuring the set of UL resources, it may semi-statically signal the configuration to UE 330 . If different entities of communication network 300 are responsible for configuring the set of UL resources instead, both UE 330 and base station 320 may receive semi-static signaling indicating the configuration.

In an exemplary embodiment, the ARI is sent in a message containing additional information. Specifically, the ARI may be sent in a message that also contains the DL assignment. The message may be a DCI message. DCI messages may be sent from base station 320 to UE 330 on physical DL control channels.

In an exemplary embodiment, the method depicted in FIG. 6 further includes UE 330 determining an operating mode of communication network 330 . Based on the operating mode that applies at the time (or that will or is expected to apply when the assigned DL transmission is to be received by UE 330), UE 330 sends control information to communication network 300. Select the UL resource set to be used for transmission.

In an exemplary embodiment, base station 320 exploits the fact that UL resource sets corresponding to different modes of operation differ in cardinality or size. For example, an operating mode corresponding to a relatively small UL resource set may allow control information to be sent to more UEs. As a result, more UEs can be scheduled simultaneously. As shown in Table 2, UL resources R2, R3, R6, R7, R10, R11, R14 and R15 are unused in operation mode M2. If a 3-bit ARI representation is used, the set of UL resources may be configured in the manner shown in Table 3.

In operating mode M1, the UL resources corresponding to ARI values "000" and "100" overlap--actually match--but in operating mode M2 they are separate. The same is true for UL resources corresponding to ARI values "001" and "101", ARI values "010" and "110", and ARI values "011" and "111" in their respective modes of operation. Thus, this configuration allows four UEs to transmit control information simultaneously in operation mode M1, and eight UEs may transmit simultaneously in operation mode M2.

Base station 320 may take advantage of this by allocating to UE 291 and further UE 292 respective radio resources to be used for transmitting DL transmissions for the benefit of network performance. The base station 320 then sets an ARI that indicates a different one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with DL transmissions to further user equipment. , to further user equipment 292 . The base station 320 does this in the indicated set of UL resources, with each set of UL resources corresponding to the current operating conditions of the communication network being separate. If the UL resource sets corresponding to at least one non-current operating state of the communication network overlap, this represents a performance gain.

The wireless connection 370 between the UE 330 and the base station 320 follows the teachings of the present disclosure and particularly the embodiments described through FIGS. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 330 using OTT connection 350, with radio connection 370 forming the last segment thereof. Rather, the teachings of those embodiments may improve the spectral efficiency and peak capacity of network 300 by reducing signaling overhead. This may provide benefits such as greater data capacity, lower risk of network congestion, and/or extended battery life.

Measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latencies, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments. There may also be optional network functionality to reconfigure the OTT connection 350 between the host computer 310 and the UE 330 in response to changes in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 350 may be implemented in software 311 of host computer 310 or software 331 of UE 330, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) through which the OTT connection 350 traverses may be deployed in or associated with the communication device, the sensors measuring the values of the monitoring result quantities exemplified above. or values of other physical quantities from which the monitored quantities can be calculated or deduced by the software 311,331. Reconfiguration of OTT connection 350 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and may not affect base station 320, may be unknown to base station 320, or It may be imperceptible. Such procedures and functionality may be known or practiced in the art. In some embodiments, measurements may include proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurement of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. by host computer 310 . The measurement may be implemented in such a way that the software 311, 331 uses the OTT connection 350 to send messages, specifically empty or "dummy" messages, while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc. good.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting a method implemented in a communication system, according to one embodiment. The communication system includes host computers, base stations, and UEs, which may be as described with reference to FIGS. For clarity of the disclosure, only reference to the diagram of FIG. 4 will be included in this section. In a first step 410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In optional sub-step 411 of first step 410, the host computer provides user data by executing the host application. At step 420, the host computer initiates transmission to the UE carrying user data. In step 430, the base station transmits to the UE the user data carried in the above transmission initiated by the host computer, according to the method depicted in FIG. At step 440, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting a method implemented in a communication system, according to one embodiment. The communication system includes host computers, base stations, and UEs, which may be as described with reference to FIGS. For clarity of the disclosure, only reference to the diagram of FIG. 5 will be included in this section. In a first step 510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown), the host computer provides user data by executing the host application. In a second step 520, the host computer initiates transmission to the UE carrying user data. The transmission may pass through the base station according to the method depicted in FIG. In an optional third step 530, the UE receives user data carried in said transmission according to the method depicted in FIG.

Further exemplary embodiments [1]
A method of transmitting control information to a communication network (300), said method being implemented in a user equipment (330), comprising:
configured with at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network;
receiving from a base station (320) of the communication network an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving downlink (DL) transmissions;
receiving an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission;
transmitting the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
A method, wherein the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and wherein the control information is transmitted in one of the UL resource sets corresponding to an operating state of the communication network. .

[2]
The method of embodiment [1], wherein the control information includes acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmission.

[3]
The method of embodiment [1] or [2], wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, at least two of the selectable UL resource sets differ with respect to their cardinality.

[4]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, a first UL resource set includes UL resources in addition to UL resources of a second UL resource set. .

[5]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the second UL resource set is a subset of the first UL resource set.

[6]
The method of embodiment [4] or [5], wherein
the operating state represents an acknowledgment feedback mode;
the first UL resource set corresponds to normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The method, wherein the second UL resource set corresponds to compressed acknowledgment feedback mode.

[7]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein each configured set of UL resources comprises two or more selectable UL resource sets.

[8]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein in the UL resource set on which the control information is transmitted, each UL resource is an acknowledgment with a positive value or a negative value, wherein the DL A method representing said acknowledgment optionally combined with a restriction to a particular portion of a transmitted signal and/or further information.

[9]
The method of embodiment [8], wherein the UL resources are distinguishable by at least one of time, frequency and code.

[10]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein the user equipment is configured with the set of UL resources by semi-static signaling.

[11]
The method of any of the preceding embodiments, comprising:
The method further comprising determining the mode of operation of the communication network and based thereon selecting the UL resource set to be used for transmitting the control information to the communication network.

[12]
The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein the ARI is received in a message containing additional information.

[13]
The method of embodiment [12], wherein the message includes the ARI and the assignment.

[14]
A user equipment (330) comprising a wireless interface (337) and processing circuitry (338), said processing circuitry (338) comprising:
enabling the UE to be configured with at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources to be used for transmitting control information to the communication network;
receiving from a base station (320) of the communication network an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving downlink (DL) transmissions;
receiving an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission;
configured to transmit the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
user, wherein the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and wherein the control information is transmitted in one of the UL resource sets corresponding to an operating state of the communication network; device.

[15]
The user equipment of embodiment [14], wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform the method of any of embodiments [2]-[13].

[16]
A method of receiving control information at a base station (212;320) of a communication network (211;330), comprising:
obtaining configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources to be used for receiving control information from user equipment within the coverage of the communication network;
allocating radio resources to user equipment (291; 330) to be used for transmitting downlink (DL) transmissions;
Sending an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) to the user equipment indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission. and
receiving the control information from the user equipment on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
A method, wherein the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and wherein the control information is received in one of the UL resource sets corresponding to an operating state of the communication network. .

[17]
The method of embodiment [16], wherein said obtaining a configuration of said set of UL resources comprises determining said configuration.

[18]
The method of embodiment [17], wherein said acquiring a configuration of said set of UL resources further comprises transmitting semi-static signaling to said user equipment.

[19]
The method of embodiment [16], wherein said obtaining a configuration of said set of UL resources comprises receiving information from different nodes of said communication network.

[20]
The method of any one of embodiments [16]-[19], wherein
allocating radio resources to be used for transmitting DL transmissions to a further user equipment (292);
an ARI to the further user equipment indicating a different one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmissions to the further user equipment. further comprising:
The method, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, each UL resource set corresponding to a current operating state of the communication network is separate.

[21]
The method of embodiment [20], wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, respective UL resource sets corresponding to at least one non-current operating state of the communication network overlap.

[22]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[21], wherein the control information includes acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmission.

[23]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[22], wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, at least two of the selectable UL resource sets differ with respect to their cardinality. Method.

[24]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[23], wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, a first UL resource set, in addition to UL resources of a second UL resource set, UL Methods, including resources.

[25]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[24], wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the second UL resource set is a subset of the first UL resource set.

[26]
The method of embodiment [24] or [25], wherein
the operating state represents an acknowledgment feedback mode;
the first UL resource set corresponds to normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The method, wherein the second UL resource set corresponds to compressed acknowledgment feedback mode.

[27]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[26], wherein each configured set of UL resources comprises two or more selectable UL resource sets.

[28]
The method of any one of embodiments [16]-[27], wherein in the UL resource set in which the control information is transmitted, each UL resource is acknowledged with a positive value or a negative value. and representing said acknowledgment optionally combined with a restriction to a particular portion of said DL transmission and/or further information.

[29]
The method of embodiment [28], wherein the UL resources are distinguishable by at least one of time, frequency and code.

[30]
The method of any one of embodiments [16]-[29], wherein
The method further comprising determining the operational state of the communication network and based thereon selecting the UL resource set to be used for receiving the control information.

[31]
The method of any of embodiments [16]-[30], wherein the ARI is sent in a message containing additional information.

[32]
The method of embodiment [31], wherein said message includes said ARI and said assignment.

[33]
A base station (320) for operating in a communication network (300), comprising a radio interface (327) and processing circuitry (328), said processing circuitry (328) comprising:
obtaining configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources to be used for receiving control information from user equipment within the coverage of the communication network;
assigning radio resources to a user equipment (330) to be used for transmitting downlink (DL) transmissions;
Sending an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) to the user equipment indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission. death,
configured to receive the control information from the user equipment on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources;
a base, wherein the indicated set of UL resources comprises a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, and wherein the control information is received on one of the UL resource sets corresponding to an operating state of the communication network; station.

[34]
The base station of embodiment [33], wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform one of the methods of embodiments [17]-[32].

[35]
A computer program comprising computer readable instructions for causing a programmable processor to perform the method of any of embodiments [1]-[13] or any of embodiments [16]-[32].

[36]
A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium storing the computer program of embodiment [35].

Embodiments herein provide instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a UE or base station, cause the UE or base station to perform the methods illustrated in FIGS. Also includes a computer program containing. In one or more embodiments, a computer readable medium storing a computer program is a communication medium (or transitory medium, electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, etc.) or storage medium (or non-transitory medium). , or combinations thereof. The term storage medium includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information; storage media is not limiting. RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any desired It includes any other medium that stores information and is accessible by a computer. In at least one embodiment, a communication node or other device hereby relies, at least in part, on processing circuitry of the node executing computer program instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. to perform the operations and functions disclosed in .

The present invention may, of course, be practiced otherwise than as specifically set forth herein without departing from essential characteristics of the invention. The embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the appended claims are embraced therein. intended to be

Claims (16)

A base station (320) for operating in a communication network (300) , comprising:
The base station includes a radio interface (327) and processing circuitry (328), the processing circuitry of the base station comprising:
obtaining configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources;
signaling the configuration to a user equipment (UE) via radio resource control signaling;
assigning radio resources to the UE to be used for transmitting downlink (DL) transmissions;
sending an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) to the UE indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission; ,
configured to receive the control information from the UE on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources, the control information including acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmission;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets being a first for use in a first acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network. and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the control information is a current acknowledgment of the communication network among the UL resource sets received at said one corresponding to a feedback mode ;
The base station , wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the first UL resource set comprises UL resources of the second UL resource set and additional UL resources. 2. The base station of claim 1, wherein said obtaining a configuration of said set of UL resources comprises determining said configuration or receiving information from different nodes of said communication network . 3. The base station of claim 1 or 2 ,
the first acknowledgment feedback mode is a normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The base station , wherein the second acknowledgment feedback mode is a compressed acknowledgment feedback mode. The base station of any of claims 1-3 , wherein processing circuitry of the base station is used to determine the acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network and, based thereon, to receive the control information. selects the UL resource set to be set . A method of receiving control information in a base station (320) of a communication network (300), the method comprising:
obtaining configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources;
signaling the configuration to a user equipment (UE) via radio resource control signaling;
Allocating radio resources to the UE to be used for transmitting downlink (DL) transmissions;
Sending an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) to the UE indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for receiving control information associated with the DL transmission. and
receiving the control information from the UE on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources, the control information including acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmission;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets being a first for use in a first acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network. and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the control information is a current acknowledgment of the communication network among the UL resource sets received at said one corresponding to a feedback mode;
The method, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the first UL resource set comprises UL resources of the second UL resource set and additional UL resources. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said obtaining a configuration of said set of UL resources comprises determining said configuration or receiving information from different nodes of said communication network. 7. The method of claim 5 or 6,
the first acknowledgment feedback mode is a normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The method, wherein the second acknowledgment feedback mode is a compressed acknowledgment feedback mode. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7,
determining the acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network;
selecting the UL resource set to be used for receiving the control information based thereon. A user equipment (UE) (330) comprising a radio interface (327) and processing circuitry (328), the processing circuitry of the UE comprising:
receiving configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources via radio resource control signaling;
receiving from a base station of a communication network an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving downlink (DL) transmissions;
receiving an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission;
transmitting the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources, the control information including acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmission;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets being a first for use in a first acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network. and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the control information is a current acknowledgment of the communication network among the UL resource sets transmitted in said one corresponding to a feedback mode;
The UE, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the first UL resource set comprises UL resources of the second UL resource set and additional UL resources. The UE of claim 9,
the first acknowledgment feedback mode is a normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The UE, wherein the second acknowledgment feedback mode is a compressed acknowledgment feedback mode. 11. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein the processing circuitry of the UE is used to determine the acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network and based thereon to send the control information to the communication network. The UE is further configured to select the UL resource set to be. The UE of any of claims 9-11, wherein the UE is configured to receive the ARI in a message containing additional information, the message containing the ARI and the assignment. . A method implemented in a User Equipment (UE) (330), the method comprising:
receiving configurations of at least two sets of uplink (UL) resources via radio resource control signaling;
receiving from a base station of a communication network an allocation of radio resources to be used for receiving downlink (DL) transmissions;
receiving an acknowledgment resource indication (ARI) indicating one of the configured set of UL resources to be used for transmitting control information associated with the DL transmission;
transmitting the control information to the base station on at least a subset of the indicated set of UL resources, the control information including acknowledgment information associated with the DL transmissions;
The indicated set of UL resources includes a plurality of selectable UL resource sets, the plurality of selectable UL resource sets being a first for use in a first acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network. and a second UL resource set for use in a second acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network, wherein the control information is a current acknowledgment of the communication network among the UL resource sets transmitted in said one corresponding to a feedback mode;
The method, wherein in the indicated set of UL resources, the first UL resource set comprises UL resources of the second UL resource set and additional UL resources. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein
the first acknowledgment feedback mode is a normal acknowledgment feedback mode;
The method, wherein the second acknowledgment feedback mode is a compressed acknowledgment feedback mode. 15. The method of claim 13 or 14,
determining the acknowledgment feedback mode of the communication network;
selecting, based thereon, the UL resource set to be used for transmitting the control information to the communication network. 16. The method of any of claims 13-15, wherein the ARI is received in a message containing additional information, the message containing the ARI and the assignment.

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